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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28854690">Lady Calliope's sacrifice</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beta_09/pseuds/Beta_09'>Beta_09</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Lady Baby (Webcomic)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Ending, Blood and Injury, Character Death, Dark Magic, F/M, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Love, Magic, Past Relationship(s), Self-Sacrifice, Spoilers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:47:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,642</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28854690</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beta_09/pseuds/Beta_09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A three day festival is held within the imperial palace in honor of the new crown prince, Asterias Callisto, and Calliope is expected to attend together with her family.</p><p>Though past memories of the palace and the new crown prince still plague her, she is determined to keep her family safe even if it means sacrificing herself.</p><p>------------------</p><p>Potential spoiler warning</p><p>I do not own 'Lady Baby'</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Calliope Rustichel/Asterias Castillos</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>OnceABlueMoon spoke Lucius/Harrison into existence and I will continue to do their good work.</p><p>Their fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23982913</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The imperial palace was still a sight to behold, Calliope thought as she took in her surroundings. It was the first time in this life that she had entered it's grounds but memories from her first time around where flashing before her eyes.</p><p>Her debutant ball, the emperor's birthday party, her brothers' inauguration into knighthood and so on, but one memory of this place stood out from the rest.</p><p>The day the emperor invited Lus, Robel, mother and her to give them his condolences for the passing of her farther and head of their household, Calliope remembered it well.<br/>
Even though the imperial family always had felt threatened by the Rustichels they needed to keep up appearances and this was also the perfect opportunity to impose the new, young, master of the household with their wealth and power.</p><p>Lucius had stood next to mother holding his head high, Robert and Calliope stood behind them, Calliope had not known how much her family members had suffered during that audience, but in hindsight she could have guessed it took alot of strength for her mother, now recently widowed, to enter the lion's den once more. Lucius would have to bear the patronizing gaze of the emperor as they spoke of father's passing, the emperor would off-handily and briefly speak of the accusations against Calliope and the eldest brother would grit his teeth, knowing full well that the man sitting on his golden throne had something to do with his father's death. Robert on the other hand, would keep his face blank, unlike the Robel Calliope now knew, the Robert from her past life had become more reserved in his later years as his father and shortly after his brother too would be murdered, or die in an accident as the newspapers would say. He would subtly take Calliope's hand in his to stop her from trembling before the emperor, she would squeeze back to let him know she was thankful.</p><p>Yet now Calliope wasn't trembling as she entered the palace with her family intact. At twenty years old, Calliope had survived her family's original demise, her parents and brothers still alive together with brother Hal. </p><p>Lucius and Robel had even married and Lus was expecting his first-born in about three months.<br/>
Though a sham marriage with the younger cousin of Lady Kantena, Lucius and Gwenneth Kantena, had a relationship based on mutual respect and trust in one another's ability to put their family first.<br/>
As next captain of the White Dragon Knights, Lucius had his recidence built right next door to the training grounds and headquarters of said knights, where, very coincidentally, brother Hal was stationed at, as he would be Lucius' vice-captain and would spend many a night training with Lucius.......</p><p>Gwenneth knew of the relationship and agreed to marry Lucius on the condition that he kept it secret that lady Gwenneth had an affair with a soldier from the Red Dragon Knights, he sadly died after being sent to the west to suppress a violent religious uprising.<br/>
The man had known Gwenneth was with his child but he could not disobey his captain's orders and Gwenneth had promised him to not tell her family in fear of her being exiled from her home and forced to fend for herself.<br/>
It was only by luck, and maybe Calliope, that Lucius and Gwenneth were to meet around the time they were of marriageable age, as their families were already discussing marriage.<br/>
The father and mother of the Rustichel family wanted their children to marry for love, like they had and Lucius and Gwenneth had taken advantage of this by pretending it was love at first sight and marrying as fast as possible.</p><p>Now Lucius' position as the next head of the family was secure and Calliope had one less thing to worry about. But if Calliope were to be honest, it was brother Robel that had worried her more when it came to marriage. Robert Rustichel was a top class knight but a more dense person when it came to such things, so when Lucius had seemingly been snatched from the eligible bachelor's of high society, the ladies of said high society focused their gaze upon his younger brother. </p><p>It was only by a miracle, and a little bit of help from Calliope, that Robel found himself to fall in love with his brother's, supposed, best friend's sister, Elphinny Alphinus. They had served as White Dragon Knights together after Calliope's father had taken Elphinny under his wing like his sons. After some years of being the White Dragon's best knight, Elphinny had decided to serve as Lady Kantena's vice-captain after the lady took over as captain of the Red Dragon Knights.<br/>
Robel had started to miss his sparring partner and as soon as the two had met once again, he proposed to her in, what Calliope would call, a most blunt matter, blurting out that he loved Elphinny as soon as they had said hello.<br/>
Elphinny, not one to back down, had tried to out-do him with her confession but the girl was weak of heart only to her best friend's brother and said best friend, so she had blushed and with a small voice said she felt the same.<br/>
At the age of twenty two and twenty five, Elphinny and Robel had married and Lucius had another reason to be able to spend his nights with Harrison. </p><p>Calliope would have changed laws for Lucius and Harrison but sadly, in this second life, it seemed that it would take more time before Calliope would be able to have that much power as to change laws and put every homophobic aristocrat and royalty six feet under, but for her family she would do anything.</p><p>Luckily her family was mostly in a safe position, only one lose end remained. </p><p>Calliope's own marriage.</p><p>It's not like she had not given it much thought. There were plenty of good candidates around her she could pick from but with such an overbearing family it was easier to join a convent and become a nun.<br/>
But there was always a name in the back of her mind that kept on coming back. </p><p>Asterias Callisto. </p><p>Duke of the Callisto family, a prince and now heir to the throne, he would be the best candidate. They shared alot of allies and enemies, they both want to dismantle the church and it's faith before it grants the emperor to much power. And Calliope could not deny there were mutual feelings of affection in their former lives, it was still a mystery to her if he actually remembered his past life or not. </p><p>That was how she could describe him best, a mystery.<br/>
Their paths would cross once in a while and they would enjoy the time they'd spent together, yet at the end they would always part and not look back. Calliope found herself wanting to look back at him more and more, as if to see him turn around and do the same. </p><p>Calliope shook her head, those thoughts could be dealt with at night when she was allowed to be alone with her thoughts, now it was time to walk into battle. </p><p>A grand ball had been orchestrated at the imperial palace in celebration of the choosing of the new crown prince, Asterias Callisto. Festivities would last three days, every day ending with a grand ball at night and a swordsman competition during the day. All knight orders would be present and compete against one another, the top five would become the future crown prince's security detail and be awarded a special rank within the hierarchy of the knights. </p><p>It was only natural that as the daughter of one of the knight orders leaders and sister(-in-law) to three of the best swordwielders of this century, Calliope would attend the Ball and spent the next three days in the imperial palace.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Calliope exited her family's carriage as they had arrived the imperial palace. </p><p>"Are you ready?" Her mother asked as she checked her daughter's dress for any wrinkles or her hairdo for any loose strands, her hands were shaking a bit.</p><p>"I'll be fine mother, you should worry for brother Lus and Robel instead of me." said Calliope as she took her mother's hands in hers and they glanced over at the boys standing with their father as he inspected the state of their uniforms.</p><p>Her father had always been an intimidating man, he only showed his soft side to his beloved wife and children. But for the next three days he was not her father but the captain of the White Dragon knights, here at the imperial palace to display the superiority of his knight order over the others.</p><p>Calliope was sure that her father's knights would be taking up most of the winning spots in the tournaments to come. It would not be surprising at all if the five knights to win the tournament and become the crown prince's personal guards were all from the White Dragon order.</p><p>"She is right to worry for Robel instead of herself, Mrs. Rustichel." Elphinny's voice sounded behind Calliope as she stepped out of the carriage and made sure her uniform was on correctly. Calliope giggled as she saw the frown on her mother's face.</p><p>"Elphinny dear, how many times have I told you to call me mother?!" she sounded outraged, but a smile soon broke through as Elphinny apologized half-heartedly and asked if her mother could help with straightening her cape.</p><p>"Lippe, could you give me a hand?" Gwenneth called from the carriage, Calliope was quick to be by her side as she guided the heavily pregnant woman down those few steps.<br/>
Lucius was quick to be on his wife's other side as he took her arm to help her down.<br/>
With a small grunt Gwenneth was standing on solid ground and the carriage was headed for their lodge on palace ground. Their luggage would be sent there, together with a few of their staff, it would be their home for the coming three days. </p><p>"Tell me when you need to rest, I'll-" Lucius began but Gwenneth interrupted him with an annoying look and a tap on his cheek with her closed fan. </p><p>"If you ask me that one more time I will tell Harrison about those sappy poems you write about him."</p><p>Calliope giggled again as she observed the couples banter, they would make great parents, even if there was no romance between them. </p><p>"Brother please stop arguing, we need to go before we arrive too late." those serious sounding words were rare to come from Robel but the blonde was standing next to his wife as both were ready for a night of networking and socializing, not exactly something they both enjoyed.<br/>
His father stood next to Robel and nodded in agreement as he held out a hand for his wife to take. </p><p>"Let us go."Just a few simple but loaded words were enough to remind the family of what they were walking into. </p><p>The imperial palace was a battlefield for the social hierarchy and the central point for high society to gather at. Rumors ran ramped there and appearances were everything. It was dangerous to be here, more for Calliope than her family. She might have avoided her family's original downfall but they would never fully be out of the woods just yet, not as long as the current emperor was still on the throne.<br/>
His ties with the Church were too strong, he was obviously enabling them to use their religion to tighten their controle over the people who were loyal to the faith and in turn back the emperor's claim to the throne.</p><p>Over the years Calliope came to realize how true her first hunches had been, she had come to distrust anyone involved with the Church as an institution.<br/>
She might not have voiced it out loud, but Calliope knew she was viewed as an opposer of the Church when she openly started to visit with duchess Callistos.</p><p>It was no secret that the Callistos house did not care for the emperor, even if he was part of their family. Asterias Callistos, soon to be the crown prince, had never voiced his dislike for the emperor but rumors were always going around that the prince was going to overthrow him soon.<br/>
Most of it was true, Asterias, together with his grandmother, duchess Callistos, had made many connections with aristocracy that would be loyal to him.</p><p>Lady Kantena, the Samona family, the Rohan family and the Alphinus family were only a few names among the faction that support Asterias Callistos to overthrow the current emperor and dismantle the Church and take their place. Now that Elphinny had married Robel and relations between Calliope and the duchess Callistos were on good terms, it was only logical for the public to assume that the Rustichel family was also part of the crown prince's faction.</p><p>And it wasn't like Calliope hadn't worked with Asterias these past few years on different cases.</p><p>It was rare to directly and openly be seen together, but it did happen from time to time. Although rumors about Calliope and Asterias having affairs with various other nobles were always floating around and died down after a while but the rumors about the only daughter of house Rustichel and the crown prince always seemed to persist and Calliope suspected Asterias might have a hand in prolonging those rumors.</p><p>He vexed her to no end.</p><p>Sometimes she thought he might also remember his pervious life but then he would turn around and make her think he knew nothing.</p><p>At least his unpredictable nature was something that had not changed since her second time around. The first time they had met in her former life, he had made her mad and irritable but he had also shown her a side to him she had only rarely seen in this life.<br/>
His changing attitudes was what drew her to him, he was one of only a few variables that were still unknown to her.</p><p>It made him interesting but dangerous.</p><p>She would not be able to predict his movements, she could not forsee what might happen if she kept on pursuing a relationship with him. Calliope did not know if she even wanted to have any kind of relationship with him.</p><p>But thoughts she had about Asterias, good or bad, were not ones she should be having now.<br/>
No, not tonight, tonight was for being with her family and make sure she stayed out of the emperor's eye and avoid any representative of the Church that might attend.</p><p>"Announcing Captain Rustichel of the White Dragon Knights and Lady Rustichel." the attendant's loud voice crossed the ballroom with ease and Calliope could hear the room fall silent as her family was announced.</p><p>Brother Lus smiled at Calliope before taking Gwenneth's arm in his and the attendant called.<br/>
"Vice captain Lucius Rustichel of the White Dragon Guard and Lady Gwenneth Rustichel."</p><p>They were an elegant pair as they descended down the staircase and were immediately swept up by a group of young couples much like themselves. </p><p>"Brother and sister-in-law sure knows how to make an entrance." Robel said as Elphinny slapped his arm playfully as she took his arm. They winked at Calliope and entered the room far more confident than Calliope would have thought. </p><p>"Sir Robert Rustichel and Dame Elphinny Rustichel."</p><p>There was anticipation in the room as Calliope was last to enter, the only bachelorette in the Rustichel house, she mentally prepared herself for the amount of people that would want to speak to her tonight.<br/>This was nothing she could not handle Calliope told herself as she walked through the door and into the room.</p><p>"Lady Calliope Rustichel."</p>
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